Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 965 - 966

OTTO WEISS, one of the enterprising real-estate dealers of Wichita, until recently was engaged in the grocery trade, in which he built up a large and very extensive business by his own energy and enterprise, and gained a most enviable reputation for his financial sagacity and honorable, straightforward dealings. He is a native of Germany, and was born Dec. 19, 1854. His parents, Ph. Otto Weiss and Louisa (Greiffentein) Weiss, were natives of Germany, and were parents of ten children, as follows: Fritz, Henry, Carl, Julia; Otto, of this sketch; William, Frank, Beate, Walter and Julius. The father was Superintendent of one of the largest railroads in Germany, and built a bridge over the Rhine at Ft. Mainz; at the time it was built it was probably the finest bridge in the world. For this he received of the king a badge of honor for his skill as an architect. He departed this life in his native land in 1886. The mother is still living in Darmstadt, Germany.

            Our subject received a substantial education in the excellent schools of his native country, and was thus well fitted for any business career he might choose to follow. In the year 1872, when seventeen years of age, the ambitious youth, wishing to try his fortunes on American soil, left the Fatherland and crossed the waters to this continent. Immediately after landing on these shores he came directly to Wichita, where his uncle, William Greiffenstein, who was one of the early pioneers of this city, then lived (see biographical sketch of W. Greiffenstein in another part of this work). Our subject at once secured work as a clerk in the hardware store of Schlicter & Russell, and by strict attention to the interests of his employers won their implicit confidence and gained a clear insight into the best methods for conducting a successful business, which has been of inestimable service to him since starting out for himself. He retained his position in that establishment five years, and then accepted a clerkship of Bissantz & Butler, hardware merchants, with whom he remained two years. He subsequently went to Colorado, where he obtained a position as a clerk in a similar establishment. After remaining in that State awhile Mr. Weiss proceeded to the Indian Territory and there turned his attention to stock-raising, which he conducted with profitable returns for some time. He finally abandoned that business and took a trip across the ocean to revisit his relatives and the scenes of his youth. After a pleasant sojourn in Germany he came back to Wichita, and soon after established himself in business as a grocer, and by his energetic and shrewd management secured a large trade, He began in a small way with no clerks, and gradually extended his business until he had ten men in his employ and sent out four delivery wagons at the time he sold out his business to engage in the real-estate business, which he is now operating successfully.

            Mr. Weiss was married, in 1885, to Miss Annie Wylie, of Wichita, formerly of West Virginia, and of their union one child has been born, whom they named William. They have a beautiful home and a half block of land on Woodland avenue. Mr. Weiss is an intelligent, wide-awake citizen of liberal views, and heartily in sympathy with every movement that will in any way add to the prosperity of this city, of whose development from a small town he has been a witness. In political opinions he sides with the Democrats, and is an important member of that party.

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